Method, System, and Computer-Readable Medium for Determining Whether to Reproduce Chart Images Calculated from a Workbook

1. A method for determining whether to reproduce a chart image from the contents of a spreadsheet application workbook on a server, comprising: calculating chart data for rendering a chart image from workbook data retrieved from the spreadsheet application workbook; generating an extensible markup language (XML) representation of the chaff data; generating a hash value from the generated XML representation of the chart data; caching the XML representation of the chart data and the generated hash value, wherein the hash value serves as a unique identifier for the chart data calculated from the spreadsheet application workbook; calculating an identifier for the XML representation of the chart data, wherein the identifier is calculated from the XML representation of the chaff data including chart series points and chart series point values within the XML representation of the chart data; comparing the calculated identifier to a previously stored identifier on the server; if the calculated identifier is equal to the previously stored identifier, then retrieving a previously produced chaff image based on the XML representation of the chart data from the server; if the calculated identifier is not equal to the previously stored identifier, then producing a chaff image from the XML representation of the chart data; and displaying the chart image in a web browser on a client computer.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising sending the chart image to a remote client and displaying the chart image on the remote client.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the XML representation of the chart data comprises individual chart series points and values associated with the chart series points from a plurality of chart series.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the chart data further comprises PivotChart data.

5. A system having at least one processor for determining whether to reproduce a chart image from the contents of a spreadsheet application workbook on a server computer, comprising: a server computer storing components, wherein the components include: a calculation server component for calculating chart data for defining a chart image from workbook data retrieved from the spreadsheet application workbook, generating an extensible markup language (XML) representation of the chart data, generating a hash value from the generated XML representation of the chart data, caching the XML representation of the chart data and the generated hash value, wherein the hash value serves as a unique identifier for the chart data calculated from the spreadsheet application workbook, and calculating an identifier for the XML representation of the chart data, wherein the identifier is calculated from the XML representation of the chart data including chart series points and chart series point values within the XML representation of the chart data; and a charting component for receiving the XML representation of the chart data and the identifier from the calculation server, the charting component further operative to compare the calculated identifier to a previously stored identifier on the server, if the calculated identifier is equal to the previously stored identifier, then retrieving a previously produced chart image based on the XML representation of the chart data from the server, if the calculated identifier is not equal to the previously stored identifier, then producing a chart image from the XML representation of the chart data, and displaying the chart image in a web browser on a client computer.

6. The system of claim 5 , wherein the charting component displays the retrieved chart image in the web browser.

7. The system of claim 5 , wherein the XML representation of the chart data comprises individual chart series points and values associated with the chart series points.

8. The system of claim 5 , wherein the chart data further comprises pivotChart data.

9. A computer-readable storage, medium having computer-executable instructions stored thereon which, when executed by a computer, will cause the computer to perform a method for determining whether to reproduce a chart image from the contents of a spreadsheet application workbook on a sewer, comprising: calculating chart data for rendering a chart image from workbook data retrieved from the spreadsheet application workbook; generating an extensible markup language (XML) representation of the chart data; generating a hash value from the generated XML representation of the chart data; caching the XML representation of the chart data and the generated hash value, wherein the hash value serves as a unique identifier for the chart data calculated from the spreadsheet application workbook; calculating an identifier for the XML representation of the chart data, wherein the identifier is calculated from the XML representation of the chart data including chart series points and chart series point values within the XML representation of the chart data; comparing the calculated identifier to a previously stored identifier on the server; if the calculated identifier is equal to the previously stored identifier, then retrieving a previously produced chart image based on the XML representation of the chart data from the server; if the calculated identifier is not equal to the previously stored identifier, then producing a chart image from the XML representation of the chart data; and displaying the retrieved chart image in a web browser on a client computer.

10. The computer-readable storage- medium of claim 9 , wherein the XML representation of the chart data comprises individual chart series points and values associated with the chart series points.

11. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 9 , wherein the chart data comprises pivotChart data.